ISLAMABAD: PPP legislator Nadeem Afzal Chan on Tuesday said the government intended to impose the agricultural tax but farmers were not in its favour.

Speaking on a point of order in the National Assembly, he warned that the farmers would not accept any tax on agriculture, which the government wanted to impose at the behest of the IMF.

He also slammed some top officials’ move to go on foreign trips in the guise of study tours and the government’s attempt to induct the prime minister’s press secretary directly into the civil service in Grade-21.

Meanwhile, parliamentarians from both sides of the House protested at the non-compliance of the prime minister’s directives on the procurement of paddy, prompting Raiz Hussain Peerzada to question the government’s commitment to the agriculture sector.

He regretted that the agriculture sector was being neglected and taxed to please the IMF. “If the government imposes farm tax, farmers will come out on the streets,” he warned. Responding to the legislators’ concerns about the procurement of paddy, Minister for Privatisation Syed Naveed Qamar said the government had come to power through the vote of farmers and the people of rural areas and will not let them down. “The government has directed Passco to procure paddy from farmers according to the support price,” he added.